"I don't want nobody stumbling after me...THAT is why I keep on."

I am mother and child
I hear sounds of torn history ripped at the seams
I see child's hands reaching for stars
Trying desperately to grasp dreams
I long to know their stories of sacrificial glory

I am mother and child
I pretend sometimes that I lived in their time
Their story bound with mine
I feel a oneness with their lineage and it's what grounds me in my potential
My ability to be great
I touch dried tears of rescue delivered too late
I worry that my existence is bound to that struggle
And that dreams disposed of are forever lost to the rubble
I cry at the thought that they will never see hard work pay off
That they might never know the reward
And die only knowing the cost

I am mother and child
I know their selfishness was only part choice
The rest, no more than forced consequences for women with no voice
I say that I don't hold tight to the resentment
But I fall victim to projection and regression to past days
When they were one and the same
I dream of reconciliation between my desires and my patience
I try to give in to the purpose within
I hope one day change comes
Because I am mother and child
And decades of times gone by piled upon rubble and concrete
Rooted in history that devoted itself to the masterpiece that is me...